Statement of Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee Chairman Adam Smith Joint Hearing with the Science and Technology Committee Research and Science Education Subcommittee on the Role of Social and Behavioral Sciences in National Security
April 24, 2008
"Good morning. I'm pleased to chair this joint hearing with my Washington state colleague, Rep. Brian Baird, to talk about the Role of Social and Behavior Sciences in National Security. I want to thank our distinguished panel for their time and expertise and I look forward to hearing from each of you.
"The fight to stop the spread of terrorism is in large part a struggle to understand and work with local populations. Our special operations forces and other military and civilian personnel work in dozens of countries and across many different cultures, and understanding the particulars of each is of enormous importance if we are to deny al-Qaida and other groups save haven. These interactions are a big component of American 'soft power,' and the more skilled and informed we become in this context, the better we will be able to root out insurgencies and terrorists.
"Understanding both our enemies and the local population is crucial if we are to gain more traction against al-Qaida. Often, our military engagement in the Muslim world and our lack of understanding of various Muslim cultures leads to miscues and miscommunications that feed the propaganda machines of our enemies. We have not effectively countered their key messages, in part because we lack solid understanding of local populations that would allow us to take a less militarized approach to our interactions, and prevent conflict before it arises.
"Our subcommittees hope to learn from our panel today of the potential offered by social and behavioral sciences for improving our understanding of our enemies and their local contexts so that we can increasingly deny terrorists the base of support and the freedom to operate in a given region. In addition, we'd like to hear from the panel their thoughts as to how we coordinate and leverage investments in social and behavioral sciences across government agencies. Overall, I hope to learn more from you about how we use our investments in social and behavioral sciences to improve our approach to national security.
"I want to thank the panel for their time, and again thank Chairman Baird for working with us to hold this hearing, as well as the ranking members of our respective subcommittees."
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